Rotary engine.



J. A. MACK.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION 11.91) NQV. 27. 1908.

Patented Nov. 9, 19.09.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. A. MACK.

' ROTARY ENGINE.

- APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 27, 1908.

Patented Nov. 9,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FFIQE.

JOSEPH A. MACK, 0F SALIDA, COLORADO.

ROTARY ENGINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. MACK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Salida, in the county of Chafl'ee and State of Colorado,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rotary Engines, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a rotary engine, of that type in which steamacts expansively against foldable wings, said wings folding in order topass along an abutment, and the object of the invention is to simplifyengines of this type, to convey the steam through a groove and boreformed in the rotating piston, and to close the said bore by the wingwhen the same is folded.

My invention also comprises a rotary engine provided with oppositelyarranged wings and steam inlet passages so that the engine can bereversed.

The invention'consists in the novel features of construction hereinafterdescribed, pointed out in the claims and shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which,

Figure l is a sectional view through the engine cylinder showing inelevation one side of the rotating piston, the piston being in positionoccupied at the commencement of one cycle. Fig. 2 is a similar viewshowing the other side of the rotating piston, and illustrating themethod of reversing the engine. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of a portion of the periphery ofone of the pistons, one wing being open. Fig. 5 is a detail radialsectional view through a portion of one of the pistons, at a pointadjacent a wing, said wing being in open position.

In these drawings 1 represents a casing to which extends a shaft 2 andthis casing is preferably divided by a suitable partition in twoseparate compartments each of which forms an engine cylinder and uponthe shaft 2 in each of the cylinders thus formed is keyed a rotatingpiston 3. The periphery of this piston is slightly out out as shown at 4and 5 and wings 6 are hinged to fold in these out out portions. Theopposite sides of the pistons are provided with semi-circumferentialsteam grooves 7, and the end portion of the groove upon one sideoverlaps the groove upon the other side, the grooves being of the samesize and length but displaced with respect to each other. The groove 7upon one side, shown in Fig. 1 communicates at one end with an angledSpecification of Letters latent.

Application filed November 27, 1908.

Patented Nov. 9, 1909.

Serial No. 464,679.

bore 8 which opens through the periphery of the piston in the cut outportion et. This groove is paralleled upon both sides by packing rings 9and packing strips 10 to prevent communication between the two endportions of the groove. The steam groove upon the opposite side of thepiston, shown in Fig. 2, communicates with an angled bore 11 which opensthrough the. periphery of the piston in the cut out portion 5. This sideof the piston is also provided with packing rings 9 and packing strips.10. The wings 6 when closed cover respectively the outer ends of thebores 8 and 11.

The piston is of less diameter than the cylinder within which itrotates, and the periphery of the piston does not engage at any pointthe walls of the cylinder, and the piston is mounted concentric with thecasing l and the shaft 2. The space between the piston andthecircumference of the cylinder forms a steam chamber into which projectsan abutment 12 provided with inclined sides and an inner face having thesame curvature as the periphery of the piston. Steam is admitted intothis space within the casing 1 by means of steam pipes 13 and 14 whichopen through the side walls or ends of the casing 1, and which dischargeinto the groove 7 respectively, it being understood that steam isadmitted to only one of said pipes at a time. In a multiple enginehaving two or more pistons as shown by Fig. 3 it will be seen that thesesteam pipes are carried between the pistons and discharge steam throughthe partition or division of walls, and if each compartment beconsidered as a separate cylinder these walls will of course form theends or heads of said cylinders.

Exhaust pipes 15 are arranged upon each side of the abutment 12, therebeing exhaust ports for each cylinder with the abutment between them.The packing rings and strips previously mentioned engage the ends orheads of the cylinder and I also provide packing strips 16 on the innercurved face of the abutment 12 to prevent leakage of steam along theperiphery of the piston from one side of said abutment to the other.

With the above description of construction the operation of the enginewill be readily understood. Steam being admitted through the steam pipe13 steam will enter the groove 7 and will pass through the bore 8lifting the wing 6 which folds into the cut out portion a, and a steamchamber will be formed between said wing and the abutment 12, theexpanding steam acting upon said wing will cause the piston to rotate.and steam will be admitted until the nongrooved portion of the piston isbrought opposite the steam pipe 13. The supply of steam will then be cutoff and the engine will be run by the further expansion of steam alreadyadmitted. until the wing 6 has passed one of the exhaust pipes 15 whenthe wing will engage the abutment 12, will fold down, pass beneath saidabutment, and reopen by a new supply of steam which will commence toenter when the inner end of the groove 7 again registers the pipe 13.The engine will thus be driven continuously in one direction. Should itbe desired to reverse the engine steam is cut off from the pipe 13 andis admitted through the pipe 1st, thus admitting steam to the other sideof the piston and through the bore 11 to the wing folding into the cutout portion 5. This will cause reverse rotation of the piston, theoperation being substantially the same as upon forward rotation. It willof course be understood that where a double cylinder is employed the twopiston blades are off-set with respect to each other so that steam willbe admitted to the wing of one blade at a time when it is cut off fromthe wing of the other blade. I also show a spring. 17 connected to eachwing G for the purpose of holding said wings in closed position whensteam is not being admitted to them. These springs may be any desiredtype, and it will also be understood that any form of packing can beused and if desired the usual form of springs for bearing upon thepacking.

lVhat I claim is 1. In a rotary engine, a cylinder, a fixed abutmenttherein, a shaft passing through said cylinder, a rotatable pistonconcentric with said shaft, the periphery of the piston engaging theabutment. semi-annular overlapping grooves formed on opposite sides ofsaid piston, bores leading from said grooves, and opening through theperiphery of said piston, wings hinged to the piston and covering saidbores when folded, and means for admitting steam to said grooves.

In a rotary engine, a cylinder, a shaft, a rotatable piston on theshaft, the periphery of the piston being provided with two cut outportions, wings hinged to the piston and folding in to said out outportions, bores formed in the piston, said bores opening respectivelyinto said cut out portions and opposite sides of the piston, andsemi-annular grooves formed upon opposite sides of the piston, each ofsaid grooves communicatiug at one end with one of said bores.

3. In a rotary engine, a cylinder, a rotatable piston, the oppositesides of said piston being provided with grooves, the groove. upon oneside over-lapping the groove upon the opposite side, annular packingrings arranged parallel to the grooves, packing strips separatingopposite ends of each groove, an abutment carried by the cylinder, saidabutment having a curved inner face, packing strips carried by saidface, said strips being in engagement with the piston,

bores formed in the piston, said bores communicating respectively withsaid grooves and opening through the periphery of the piston, wingshinged to the piston, said wings when closed folding over the saidbores, exhaust pipes upon opposite sides of the abutment, and steaminlet pipes discharging into said grooves, as and for the purpose setforth.

JOSEPH A. MACK.

Witnesses C. S. KRAMER, O. T. PARKER.

